American Social Classes: Statistical Strata or Social Groups

Students of stratification currently disagree on the question of whether American social classes are social entities recognized as such by the average citizen or whether they are merely heuristic concept created by the social analyst. Data gathered in research on a southern New England mill town indicate that, while a prestige status system exists in that town, local residents do not perceive this system as a series of discrete social classes. They see it, instead, as a continuum.